Could this be the week that Volkswagen finally powers out of the trudge of its self-inflicted emissions scandal?
It's possible.
The New York Times is reporting that the embattled automaker will hold a hearing Thursday at the Federal District Court in San Francisco to bring everyone up to date on the status of its settlement talks about how to fix the nearly 600,000 diesel models affected in the United States. In January, VW wasn't able to come to terms on an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California Air Resources Board (CARB) about how to recall the nearly 600,000 vehicles, as both agencies rejected its proposal.
Has anything changed since? If so, we will find out Thursday, when VW is set to reveal the status of those talks at the Federal District Court.
This comes after Judge Charles R. Breyer already told the automaker in February to be prepared with a plan at the March 24 hearing about how to bring the estimated 580,000 diesel models to compliance with emissions regulations in the U.S. After having its proposal rejected by the EPA and CARB in January, VW has been unable to pinpoint a resolution about how to do so, unless it has been unbeknownst to the public to this point.
"The proposed plans contain gaps and lack sufficient detail," CARB said in a joint statement with the EPA upon rejecting VW's proposal in January, as reported by USA Today. "The descriptions of proposed repairs lack enough information for a technical evaluation; and the proposals do not adequately address overall impacts on vehicle performance, emissions and safety."
The EPA added: "EPA agrees with CARB that Volkswagen has not submitted an approvable recall plan to bring the vehicles into compliance and reduce pollution. EPA has conveyed this to the company previously."
Thursday's hearing will come just over a week since it was announced that institutional investors are suing the automaker in a German court for $3.57 billion in damages over the company's emissions cheating.
While a recall is already underway in Europe, getting some kind of agreement in place with the EPA and CARB in the U.S. will be vital to fully drive the automaker into the future with a cleaner outlook.
